Accidentally tainted water supply caused dialysis patients' illness

Town and Country, Mo. (KSDK) - A spokesperson for U.S. Renal Care West County has confirmed a cleaning solution used in dialysis was accidentally added into a water supply, which sickened eight dialysis patients receiving treatment on Monday.

Tom Weinberg released the following statement on Wednesday:

"We can confirm that a cleaning solution, commonly used in dialysis, was inadvertently added into our water supply due to a one-time human error. As soon as we became aware that something was not right, we immediately stopped dialyzing all 8 patients and out of an abundance of caution, advised them to go to the hospital for observation. Most importantly, we have been talking with patients and their families and thankfully all patients are stable. We are also communicating with the state health department to confirm the water system is absolutely safe before we reopen our facility in the next few days. In the meantime, we are making sure every patient has a place to dialyze and our thoughts remain with them. Our top priority is the health and safety of our patients and we have taken added precautions to ensure this does not happen again."

The patients notified staff they were not feeling well, and dialysis treatments were immediately stopped.

The people who felt sick were taken to area hospitals for care.

The facility has been closed since Monday, and arrangements were made for people to receive treatments elsewhere.